


Hardboiled

by ficsated



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Su's father, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 11:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3528296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficsated/pseuds/ficsated
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles of older Toph/Satoru. Takes place when Lin is a toddler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hardboiled

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to explore hardboiled-cop-single-mom Toph, and Satoru (from the Rift comics) ended up being a good way for me to do so.

**I.**

  
“Toph? Is that you?” The metalbender turned around, balancing Lin on her hip, when she heard a familiar voice call to her from across the Republic City Market.

  
“Satoru?” She hadn’t seen him in years and didn’t know what to say. Making his way through the crowd, Satoru joined her, noting her metal armor, golden badge, and of course, the toddler in her arms.

  
“Hey, it’s good to see you!” he told her. “Wow, I never thought I’d see you looking so… grown up.” He mentally cursed himself. That was a stupid thing to say - obviously they both had changed since their teenage years.

  
Toph laughed. “Well, yeah,” she told him. “I’ve got a job and a kid now, so it looks like I’ve finally got some responsibilities to stick with. I’d say the same about you but, hey, I’ve got no idea what you ever looked like. What are you doing here?” she asked. Her jade eyes stared past him, unable to see him, and he noted that she looked like she hadn’t been sleeping well.

  
“I’m in town for a few months, working on a big business deal. I didn’t stick with my uncle’s refinery, so now I’m working as an engineer. I’m here to help with the infrastructure for the plans to expand the city.” He ran his hand nervously through his hair. Satoru always knew she was tough, but Toph was taller, fuller, and more confident than he remembered.

  
“It’s good to see you,” she told him. “Well, not  _see_ you, but you know. Hey, are you doing anything later tonight?”

  
He shook his head, then added, “No, why?”

  
“Wanna meet for dinner?” she asked him.

  
Satoru froze. He could feel the blood rushing into his face. “Umm, well…” he took a moment to collect himself. “I’d love to, but I’m not sure that would be appropriate. I mean, what would your husband have to say about you having dinner with some other guy?”  _Of course_  he wanted to say yes, but he had to be realistic. A long time had passed since they were teenagers, and she had obviously moved on. Spirits, she had a  _child_.

  
When he saw the metalbender’s response, he softened. She sighed, turning her head towards the ground. “What husband?”

  
“Oh, I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume- I just-” shit. He was an idiot. Why did he have to say anything?

  
“Lin here doesn’t have a dad. It’s just the two of us, and that’s how it’s been for her whole life.” Lin turned to bury her head against her mother’s armor. She was being shy and obviously didn’t like having her mother introduce her to the stranger. He chuckled at the littler girl’s response.

  
“Well,” the engineer said, smiling, “Clearly such a strong, healthy kid is doing fine with such a capable mom.” The girl stopped hiding behind her black locks and rewarded him with a toothy smile.

"Yep," Toph bounced Lin on her hip, "So, meet me here tonight at eight? Unless you don’t want to, that is…" "No! I mean, yes! Yes, I do want to. I… I’d like that." Satoru spluttered, blushing once more. "Great!" The metalbender rewarded him with a punch to the shoulder, harder than he remembered. "See you then!" And she was off, heading towards the dock for the ferry. Satoru stared after her, rubbing his shoulder absently.

**II.**

Two weeks had passed since Satoru had arrived in Republic City, and he was starting to grow fond of the scyscrapers, the bustling crowds, the buzz of life in the city. He had hated his time in the cramped lower ring of Ba Sing Se, but this city was different. It was more… alive. Of course, some of that was because he was adjusting to life in Republic City. He had been working diligently six days a week, earning himself a good reputation with the city’s leading engineers and CEOs. And on his first day off, he had gone to dinner with the city’s chief of police.

They went to a seedy bar tucked away in a narrow alley and talked over drinks. It wasn’t what he had imagined, but when he thought about it, it was much more Toph to relax somewhere like that than to sit down for a stuffy formal dinner in one of the city’s finer restaurants. He told her about his work, about his plans to use the skills of benders to make construction more efficient. She talked about a particularly dangerous criminal on her radar and about some of the thugs she had apprehended recently. They laughed at each other’s jokes. Before he was ready for the date to end, she remembered that she had a babysitter waiting for her at home and that she needed to get back to Lin. She stood up abruptly, dug out some yuans from her pocket and slammed them on the bar in front of him, and began to dash out the door.

“Wait!” he called after her, catching her wrist. “Can we…. I mean…. Do you want to… hang out again sometime?”

She paused for a second, thinking. “Yeah… Next week? I don’t work Saturdays. How about lunchtime at the Republic City market? Great!” she didn’t even wait for his reply as she ran off.

**III.**

“Is this where you live?” he asked her. Toph and Satoru had spent the afternoon talking as they walked through the city streets. She wore her more casual Earth Kingdom clothes, but her boastful stories when they passed the places she had apprehended criminals reminded him that she was no civilian.

They were standing in front of a shabby, discreet bungalow. He knew Toph didn’t care about presentation, obviously, but it surprised him a little that such a strong public figure lived so… out of the way. “Yep!” Her smile faded when she picked up on his attitude. “Hey, look, I know it’s not the Firelord’s Palace, but I don’t need anyone hunting me down. Besides, I bet you’re in some cramped apartment far away from the ground.”

She had a point.

As she opened the door, he took in the dirt floor, the surprisingly high-tech appliances, the lack of pictures, and the metal pillers in the corners of the room. It was such an interesting combination of old and new. Some parts of the house looked like she had carved it out with earthbending herself, while others showed hints of metalbending finesse. “It’s amazing!” he told her. “I mean, sure it looks a little unconventional, but it’s very… you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” the metalbender replied with a smirk. “I mean, I’m sure it’s doesn’t look fancy-shmancy, but then again, I don’t even know what my own face looks like.”

“You’re beautiful.” The words tumbled out of his mouth. He felt his face burn. She raised a hand, and for a second he thought she was going to slap her. “Satoru?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind if I… see what you look like?”

He gulped. “Um, sure.” She reached forward, placing her hands on either side of his face. Her thumbs ran over his cheekbones, his eyebrows, his nose, the frames of his glasses. One hand reached up and felt his messy hair. She brought both hands down to his chin and neck, and without thinking about it, he raised his own hands and slowly pulled her face to his.

The kiss lasted less than a second. They both jumped back immediately. _Spirits,_  he thought,  _that’s it, I’ve ruined everything._

After a moment, he found himself knocked off his feet as she threw herself into another kiss, and the two of them toppled to the ground.

An hour later, she had to leave to pick up Lin from her playdate on Air Temple Island. He walked back to his apartment - which  _was_  too far up to appeal to most earthbenders - with a stupid grin on his face.

**IV.**

It was the last week of Satoru’s three-month stay in Republic City. He had been seeing Toph almost every day after work, even occasionally playing with Lin, although he was never sure how to react around the little girl. She was apparently going out of town to stay with her grandparents for the week, so Toph had a brief break from looking after her every day after work. They had gone out to dinner every night, and he had only returned to his apartment in the mornings to change into new clothes for work.

They never talked about his impending departure, even though both of them knew he didn’t have much time left. For someone who usually faced things head-on, Toph usually steered clear of conversations that brought up the heavier stuff. He had asked once or twice about Lin’s father, but she would always pull away from him and he never got any more details than that this guy hadn’t stuck around, so Satoru dropped the subject. They both preferred to live in the moment than worry about the past or the future.

He couldn’t do that forever, though. As he lay awake in Toph’s room, staring up at the metal ceiling, he knew he had to face the facts.

“Toph,” he whispered to the metalbender curled up against his chest. “Hey, Toph.” He brushed her long bangs out of her face and planted a kiss on her forehead. “You awake?”

“Mmmmmm?” she sat up, raising her arms in a stretch. “What’s up?”

“I’m leaving in two days.” The engineer watched her hesitantly. “Thanks, genius, but you’ve told me that already. Did you really wake me up specially for the friendly reminder?” She began to roll over, but stopped when he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Come with me,” he asked. “We can travel the United Republic, and I’m earning more than enough to support us.”

She shook her head, unable to process what he was saying. “What? I have a life here! I can’t just pack up and leave!”

“We can take Lin with us, of course. Look, I know it’s sudden, but these last few months have been amazing and I don’t want things to just end like this.” He paused, unsure how to proceed. “I… I love you, Toph. And we can have a life together.”

She was silent for just a moment too long, and he knew from her hesitation what her reply would be.

“Satoru, I… I don’t need to run away from my past and start a new life. I love my job, I love my city, and I love my daughter. Yeah, maybe I’m not the perfect mom, and maybe it’s tough to juggle work and family time, but you know what? I’m tough too, and I can handle it. And obviously, you care about your work too much to just give up and stay here.”

“I could do that,” the engineer said tentatively. Admittedly, he didn’t like the idea, but he could work out a way to come back in a few weeks, to transfer to a position that allowed him to stay in the city.

“No, don’t bother. Not for me, anyway,” the metalbender sighed. “Look, this has been great, and I’ve really enjoyed our time together, but… I just don’t think either of us should put our whole lives on hold for a shot at something that might not even work out.

His expression hardened. “I get it,” he said. “I’ll be on my way, I guess.” He stood up and started looking around for his belongings.

Just as he finished putting on his shoes and stood to leave, Toph stood up as well. “Wait,” she said, walking to him and taking both of his hands in hers. “I’m sorry. I care about you, I really do. I just… It’s not gonna last forever, so let’s not kid ourselves, okay?”

She released his hands and reached up to kiss him, but this time, it didn’t last. He slipped away without another word, leaving her alone. Toph wasn’t used to the house being this quiet, and she shivered as she crawled back into bed. A few hours remained before she would have to get up, but she knew she wouldn’t fall back asleep before then.

**V.**

A few weeks pass, and just when she thinks she’s moving on, Toph wakes one morning with a wave of nausea in her stomach. As she rushes to the bathroom, she hears her daughter call out to ask what’s wrong. She doesn’t reply, and when Lin makes her way to the doorway a minute later, Toph is sitting on the floor with a hand over her stomach, knowing exactly what’s happened.

She doesn’t make an effort to contact him.

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted from my tumblr (ficsated.tumblr.com). This is the first piece of fanfiction I ever wrote and might be a little cringe-worthy, but I wanted to write something about Toph when Lin was a little kid.


End file.
